Featherpecking !!!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
Help please its driving me mad, all my chickens are eating each others feathers from the tail,and when they draw blood they go mad, i spray that purple spray on all the areas affected every night and they still do it !!!!! any ideas please ??????...Andy.
 
Can you tell me more about your situation? i.e. layout of turnout/enclosure. what you're feeding and how much. do you give tidbits, if so what? Do they have any entertainment like pecks? how many chickens do you have and do you have a cockerel? Thanks :) Hope I can help.
 
have you tried antipecking spray it did work for mine but you have to reapply every few days.
 
The purple spray will not stop them pecking and you have a very serious situation if blood is being drawn as it can quickly get out of hand and they can kill one another.

As Valburnham says Net Tex anti peck spray is useful but does need application every couple of days. It has some antibacterial properties as well which helps to heal the wounds. If any of them are particularly badly injured I'd take them out until the wounds are completely healed or the behaviour stops.

The usual cause is overcrowding and boredom and not because there is something lacking in their diet.
 
Need to tackle the root cause of the problem. In my experience it is overcrowding in the run and boredom. Should have a minimum of 2 square metres per bird or if less they must free range for half of the day. We only have 1 square metre on the more laid back breeds and 4 square metres on the problem birds but they nearly all free range. We do afternoons and fill the holes in the lawn and re-seed periodically. But three have only 1.5 square metres each in their run with only occasional ranging, but one is a cockerel so he keeps the hens occupied running away from his advances.
 
I have friend of mine that studies chicken behaviour up north. She told me once that it's not a lack of something in the diet per-say but does have a lot to do with content of diet. recent studies show those that are fed on diets which are either too low in mineral consumption, proteins, amino acid, or if when the diet only consisted of vegetables, are more susceptible to severe feather pecking.
But a diet which consists of high-fibre or a low-energy diet is said to reduce the pecking amongst your flock. As Chuck also mentioned boredom and space is a big factor and any diet changes that are made drastically can also make things worse. So if you do plan on changing anything do it gradually. Hence my questions in my previous post to know more about your situation to be able to help you better.
 
Give them something to do and get anti peck spray, might just be one bird, is so isolate for a bit.
 
Feeding layers mash rather than layers pellets was a tip given to me on Wednesday by an expert chicken breeder. 30 years experience and now breeding his own new variety of Leghorn -the lines he has used and reused and modified blew my mind! The outcome looks fantastic. Anyway, he feeds them mash and the birds are so pre-occupied with picking up all the little pieces to get enough to eat feather pecking incidents are rare. If you saw the condition of his birds you would be amazed at what can be achieved -pen after pen of top show quality.
 
That is a good tip and well worth a try. Most of the big rearers use meal. It would certainly keep them occupied for longer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top